Tag Archives: examen

Welcome to Leap Lent. Lent is the season of preparation for Jesus’ death and resurrection. It started a week ago on Ash Wednesday and will continue through Easter. In between, a bunch of us will practice the disciplines of Lent: giving, fasting, and prayer (Matt 6:1–6, 16–18).

Here and in our Wednesday evening meetings at Colonial Church, we’ll focus on five methods of prayer. Our reasons are:

to get right with God

to learn “new” ways to pray, and

to encourage each other in both.

It’s called “really old” because the methods of prayer we’ll explore have come down to us through centuries of church history. It’s a prayer meeting instead of a class because we want to learn primarily by doing prayer together, rather than by lecture.

Nevertheless, here are a few notes from the lecture to get you started.

Notes

Ask yourself three questions:

What brought you here to this blog? What do you hope to gain, to do, to read?

Who do you think is “good at praying” and what makes you think that?

When was a really good prayer season or highlight in your life and why?

Here are the promises that will guide and support our endeavors to pray during Lent:

God is present with us and he does change us (Eph 1:13–14). His non-refundable down-payment on our eventual perfection is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit begins our transformation now by heaping our inheritance on us even before we reach heaven (1:3–12). This is what we receive:

Homework

Practice the examen each day in the simple form above, using Scripture, or around a theme.

Encourage others who are trying this by interacting here. Scroll down to the comments section and write about your experience as you try the examen. Perhaps you will think through one or more of these questions:

Focusing on fears or habits of sin can be a little dangerous. On the other hand, ignoring these things can be dangerous, too. How might the prayer of examen provide a path between these dangers?

As you work through the examen and see God or opportunities from God, how do you feel? Encouraged? Bored? Burdened? Something else? Has the sensation changed as you continue? How?

Did you decide upon a theme or Scripture framework on which to build your practice of examen throughout Lent? Can you share how it’s working out? What aspect of the examen as prayer has been hard to practice? What has come easily?

Remember

“None of us have reached our goal, but we press on to make it our own because Christ has made us his own” (Phil 3:12).

Harrell’s Ten Ways to Pray is a masterful intersection of devotion and scholarship. Rich in inspiration, practical and adaptable for both individuals and small groups, there is something here for believers in any tradition or at any stage of their Christian pilgrimage.—Thomas Crumb, Pastor, First Congregational Church of Pomfret

Ten Ways to Pray celebrates the gift of prayer. Here readers are invited to explore their relationships with God and to learn to pray. It is a valuable resource for teachers, students, spiritual directors, and anyone desirous of deepening their spiritual life.—Kathleen Hagerty, Spiritual Director and Interfaith Chaplain, Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center

Ten Ways to Pray is a powerful tool for personal use or within the small group venue. The reflection and personal questions are well-constructed and, without a doubt, create edifying dialogue. This work will certainly awaken the reader to a new level of experiencing the power of prayer!—Diana Curren Bennett, Director of Spiritual Leadership Communities, Leadership Transformations